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TN colleges to fight sexual violence

More than 70 Tennessee colleges — including Vanderbilt University, the University of Tennessee and Middle Tennessee State University — are meeting in Nashville this week in hopes of combating the threat of sexual violence on their campuses.

The two-day summit, to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, will bring local college staffers together with national experts on sexual and domestic violence, according to a statement released Monday. Tennessee State University is hosting the summit, which is co-sponsored by the University of Tennessee System, the Tennessee Board of Regents, the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association and the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence.

College leaders say this statewide collaboration, which is the first of its kind, is indicative of the urgency of their work.

“Preventing and responding to sexual assaults and relationship violence is a priority in Washington and across the country and, now more than ever, in Tennessee,” said Joe DiPietro, president of the UT system. “We’ve not only heightened our focus in Tennessee, we also agree that we can be more effective at combating sexual violence by working together.”

Planning for the summit began in October. That’s when the U.S. Department of Education released a set of regulations for colleges and universities stemming from changes to laws that require schools to be responsive to sexual assault and to accurately report crime statistics. Among other things, the new regulations require added training and programming for students and staffers.

Officials say that meeting together will offer them a chance to swap best practices and to hear from the nation’s leading advocates in the field. Advocates who are scheduled to speak at the summit will address the intersection of alcohol and sexual assaults, bystander intervention and the best ways for campus law enforcement to work with victims.

More than 430 college staffers are expected to attend.

“Training on this subject is not just the required thing to do, it’s the moral thing to do,” said John Morgan, chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents. “What we believe is that this summit will help our campuses meet these objectives outlined by our national leaders.”

The UT system, TBR and TICUA are splitting $40,000 cost of the summit.